E2K and C32 Winter league round 3 event report
January 25th saw the first UK pylon race event of 2026, this was a short course event for E2K and C32 models and was round 3 of the 2025/2026 Winter league.
The BMPRA Winter league events are great fun but can be tough at the same time. The weather for the round 3 event consisted of light easterly winds and occasional light showers and around 7 deg C temp.
There were 17 entries (11 in E2K and 6 in C32) flying was late to start due to a rain shower but CD Paul Bardoe had all competitors and officials ready and waiting to go. Most CD’s now use the very effective rain shower app’s as you can literally see the rain coming towards you about 30 minutes before it arrives.
It was great to see new competitors in both E2K and C32, Mick Barnett was new in E2K, Mick used to fly Club 20 pylon racing back in the day, Mick adjusted to the E2K model and slightly different course now used very well. Dan Workman is an occasional pylon race flier but is better known as an F3A pilot and UK team member. Dan had a new own design C32 model that certainly breaks the trend of Tracer/Pacer styled models.
It was clear that there would not be a full days racing possible so CD Paul Bardoe, indicated that we would aim for three rounds of racing, which is the minimum that qualifies as a proper race meeting.
E2K flew two rounds to start the day off, and early front runners were Michael Toyer, Geoff White and Shane Egan. Relative new comer Mark Legg was nibbling away at the psychological marker of a 80 second race. Mick Barnett was happy in his first event to be getting times in the 90 to 100 second range.
C32 went next and flew 3 rounds back to back, usual front runner Nathan Attridge was suffering some fuel supply issues and only managed to record one time out of three, although it was the fastest time of the meeting at 64.78 seconds.
Qualifiers for a 3 man C32 Final were Barrie Lever, Mark Tilbury and Mick Illingworth.
The final round of E2K was flown and CD Paul Bardoe determined that there would be two, two man semi finals, front runner Michael Toyer had one cut in his semi final and the subsequent 78 second time put him out of any realistic contention to get into the final. Newcomer Mark Legg done really well to make the semi final but unfortuntatly double cut and thus got the maximum penelty score of 200 seconds. The other semi final was won by Shane Egan with Geoff White following with a very respectable 73.45 seconds.
E2K final
So the E2K final was a rerun of the Egan and White semi final, the final winning time by Shane Egan was a blistering 68.35 with Geoff White following close behind to cross the line at 70 seconds. The flying in the semi final and final was some the nicest pylon race piloting seen in many years. Well done to both.
C32 final
The C32 Final had to be re-run due to a timing issue. Un-fortunately Mick Illingworth’s model flamed out on launch leaving Mark Tilbury and Barrie Lever to contend for the final honours. The piloting in this case was a cat and mouse race with Barrie Lever playing with a 1/3rd lap lead and just working to maintain that advantage to the end.
A great event and many thanks to Paul Bardoe for pushing the meeting along in quite challenging conditions.